Copyright Registration

Protect the Work Your Business Creates

Copyright protects original work the moment you create it. Your code, written content, designs, photos, videos, and marketing materials are covered automatically. But automatic protection only goes so far. To enforce your rights in court, and to qualify for the strongest remedies, you generally need to register the work with the U.S. Copyright Office.

Most founders do not think about copyright until someone copies their work. By then, the timing of your registration can limit what you are able to recover. A few simple filings early on keep your options open and your work protected as your business grows.

What Copyright Covers

Copyright applies to original works of authorship that are fixed in a tangible form. For most startups, that means software and source code, website and app content, marketing copy, photographs and graphics, videos, online courses, and written materials like guides or whitepapers.

Copyright does not protect ideas, systems, or methods on their own, only the specific way they are expressed. How an invention works is the job of a patent. A brand name or logo is the job of a trademark. Copyright protects the creative expression itself: the actual words, code, images, and designs you produce.

Registration is what turns that protection into something you can enforce. Under 17 U.S.C. § 411, you generally must register a U.S. work before you can sue for infringement. And under 17 U.S.C. § 412, registering early, before an infringement or within three months of publication, is what makes you eligible for statutory damages and attorney fees instead of just your actual losses.

How Copyright Fits With Patents and Trademarks

Patents and trademarks are the core of what we do at Lockhart IP. Copyright comes up often, because most businesses create protectable work in more than one category at once. A single software company might hold a patent on how its product works, a trademark on its brand, and copyrights on its code and content.

We help founders register copyrights when it makes sense and fit that protection into the bigger picture. The goal is the same as with any intellectual property: protect what gives your business its advantage, without spending on filings you do not need.

If you mainly have a copyright question, we are glad to answer it and point you in the right direction. If copyright is one piece of a larger plan, we can handle it alongside your patents and trademarks as part of a single IP strategy.

Have a copyright question, or work you want to protect? Schedule a quick consultation with Curt and we will help you figure out the right next step.